Crosier Brother John “Emil” Hartman, 82, died Nov. 27 at the St. Cloud Hospital. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 4, at the Crosier Priory Church in Onamia with vigil and visiting beforehand. A luncheon will follow. Burial will be at the priory cemetery.
Brother Emil was born May 29, 1939, in Wichita, Kansas, to Charles and Edna (Armour) Hartman, one of 13 children. He attended St. John Elementary School in Clonmel, Kansas.
Brother Emil entered the Crosier novitiate in 1954 and made his first profession of vows Aug. 28, 1955, in Hastings, Nebraska; renewed his vows in 1958 in Fort Wayne, Indiana; and professed solemn vows on Aug. 28, 1961, in Hastings.
Many of his assignments and ministries centered around Crosier religious life as a member of the Crosier communities in Hastings, Phoenix and Onamia. He also worked at the Crosier House of Studies in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Brother Emil served the Crosier Fathers and Brothers through internal ministries including as tailor, janitorial and laundry services, construction, heating and air conditioning maintenance, retreat work and in the vocation office. He also served in the development office in Onamia from 1986 until his death, including 20 years as the Crosier Apostolate director.
In 1991, he received the 7th Annual Crosier Recognition Award. He participated in the Hesburgh Sabbatical Program at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 2008.
Brother Emil is survived by siblings Charles Vincent, Louise (Tom) Ast, Barbara (Gene) Giefer, Michael (Lisa), Gerald (Sue), Harold, and LuAn, as well as his Crosier confreres in Onamia and Phoenix and around the world. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sisters Edna Ann Schauf, Mary Ellen Vanhorn, Elizabeth and Christine, and his brothers Everett and Robert, brother-in-law Ernie Schauf, and sisters-in-law Dreda and Marlene Hartman.
Memorials are preferred to the Crosier Fathers and Brothers, Box 500, Onamia, MN 56359-0500.